SALT LAKE CITY—Police have identified the victim of a Utah backcountry avalanche as a 24-year-old man from the Salt Lake City area.
Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal says snowboarder Alecsander Barton triggered the avalanche Saturday after he started to descend Kessler Peak into Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City.
Two other male companions—a snowboarder and a skier—watched as Barton was swept 2,400 feet down the slope. They later found his body completely buried near the bottom of the slide.
The other two men, who also are from the Salt Lake area, escaped unharmed.
Hoyal says Barton's death is a reminder that backcountry conditions are extremely dangerous and the public should stay away from steep terrain.
The death marks the ninth avalanche fatality in the West this season.